Bill Kaufmann, Shawn Logan, QMI Agency

Police began the grim task of searching a northwest landfill Tuesday as the investigation into the disappearance of a Calgary boy and his grandparents expanded Tuesday.

As scores of Calgary cops and RCMP continued to scour a rural Airdrie property in punishing heat Tuesday, the search expanded to the nearby Spyhill landfill as the 10-day old hunt for five-year-old Nathan O’Brien and his grandparents Alvin and Kathy Liknes showed no signs of closure.

Four officers in white coveralls were seen digging through a barricaded pile of debris with pitchforks, occasionally handing off articles of clothing and other items to be placed in bags for a waiting forensics investigator.

A police spokeswoman said the landfill search is a standard step in missing persons cases, but admitted it is the first time investigators have turned their attention to any of Calgary’s dump sites.

She added it will likely expand to other landfill sites depending on whether anything is unearthed at Spyhill.

Police Chief Rick Hanson said police are feeling the pressure of solving a case that’s captured the rapt attention of the country and impacted the confidence of Calgarians.

“It’s impacted the country, it really has,” said Hanson, who just returned from testifying before a Parliament Hill committee in Ottawa.

“It’s caused people in (the Liknes’s) community to pause and wonder about their own safety.

“Investigators are tenacious —— they don’t just look at it as a job, they look at it personally.”

He said the resources being expended on the effort are “significant” and that investment would continue as long as it’s needed.

Meanwhile, police appealed to property owners in rural areas outside Calgary to search their land for anything suspicious.

Commercial property owners in rural areas, such as well sites, are also being asked to keep an eye out for anything unusual.

Hanson said widening the search and seeking help from other landowners is vital in ensuring all bases are covered.

“We do not want to risk down the road any chance we missed something,” he said.

“When there’s a crime scene, a fatal mistake would be ever to assume it’s limited to a particular area, so better to widen the net than restrict it.”